It can seat 6 people. You can now fly to Shenzhen! Charter flights start from 9,800 yuan

The Shenzhen-Zhongshan Channel is about to open to traffic, and you can now take a flight between Shenzhen and Zhongshan!

On June 28, the reporter learned from Shenzhen Metro that the first "low-altitude rail" air-rail transport project in China, jointly built by Shenzhen Metro Group and Eastern General Aviation, was officially launched at the East Square of Shenzhen North Station Hub. This means that citizens can enjoy the one-stop shuttle service of Shenzhen air-rail transportation.

Take the subway to Shenzhen North Station, and you can take a helicopter to various districts in Shenzhen and Zhongshan City on the other side of the Pearl River. This cool way of travel is about to become a reality. With the opening of the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Channel and the continuous rise of the low-altitude economy, the increasingly dense transportation network will help accelerate the realization of the "one-hour living circle" in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

It takes 25 minutes to fly from Shenzhen to Zhongshan

According to Shenzhen Metro, the Shenzhen North Station Hub Air-Rail Intermodal Project is located at the C1 unit of the East Square of Shenzhen North Station. It is reported that there is a 314-square-meter helipad on site, which can provide air taxi charter transportation services to citizens. Shenzhen North Free Flying Charter Flight starts at 9,800 yuan and can seat 6 people. The intermodal service has intercity routes and intra-city routes. The intra-city routes can fly to various districts in Shenzhen, and the intercity route, taking Zhongshan as an example, can arrive in 25 minutes.

The reporter learned that the smooth launch of the Shenzhen North Station air-rail transport project has formed a low-altitude transportation network centered on Shenzhen North Station and connected to the Greater Bay Area, which can easily reach more than 90% of the Greater Bay Area within 1 hour. Shenzhen Metro Group also stated that it will explore the development scenarios of low-altitude economic business in conjunction with industry partners based on the travel needs of passengers and citizens, and continue to expand the "railway + low-altitude" ecosystem.

In fact, Shenzhen has been planning its helicopter business for a long time. At present, many general aviation companies including Eastern General Aviation and CITIC Offshore Helicopters have carried out commercial operations of manned air traffic in Shenzhen, and developed new air traffic formats such as connecting flights, intra-city commuting, inter-city flights, and cross-border flights. Data shows that Shenzhen's helicopter flights reached 23,000 last year, and its flight scale remains the leading position in the country.

In the past, taking a helicopter in Shenzhen required going to a specific heliport, which was not directly connected to the subway track. Therefore, the core feature of the "low-altitude rail" air-rail transport project jointly built by Shenzhen Metro Group and Eastern General Aviation is to make the "last mile" of air-rail transport passengers' travel smoother.

In addition to helicopters, eVTOL, as an emerging form of low-altitude economy, is also another means of transportation for "air taxis". Compared with helicopters, eVTOL has the advantages of vertical take-off and landing, and has made breakthroughs in flight speed, range and flight time, becoming the focus of many cities in developing low-altitude economy.

The reporter noticed that on May 30 this year, the Shenzhen Yantian eVTOL Industrial Park was officially unveiled. This is the country's first specialized industrial park focusing on the low-altitude economic eVTOL segment, with 16 upstream and downstream companies gathered here. In addition, in February this year, the world's first public demonstration flight of the cross-sea and cross-city eVTOL route was held in Shenzhen, flying from Shenzhen Shekou Cruise Terminal to Zhuhai Jiuzhou Port Terminal, shortening the one-way 2.5 to 3 hours of ground driving to 20 minutes.

Helicopters, eVTOL, drones... In the future, there will be more and more cool aircraft in Shenzhen's low-altitude airspace, helping Shenzhen's low-altitude economy fly higher.

The Greater Bay Area’s “one-hour living circle” is accelerating

In recent years, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has continued to strengthen the "hard connectivity" of infrastructure and improve the level of convenient transportation in the region. In addition to general aviation in the low-altitude field, the construction of intercity railways, cross-sea channels and other fields has also been accelerated.

Regarding intercity railways, the reporter noticed that on May 26 this year, the Guangzhou-Foshan South Ring and Foshan-Dongguan Intercity Railways were officially put into operation. These two newly opened intercity railways are connected to the already opened Foshan-Zhaoqing Intercity Railway and Dongguan-Huizhou Intercity Railway, forming an east-west traffic artery with a total length of 258 kilometers in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. This traffic artery connects Huizhou, Dongguan, Guangzhou, Foshan and Zhaoqing from east to west, and is the longest intercity railway in the Greater Bay Area.

As for cross-sea passages, the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Channel, which took seven years to build, will be officially opened to traffic at 3 pm on June 30. As the core transportation hub project of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the 24-kilometer Shenzhen-Zhongshan Channel connects the east bank of the Pearl River with the west bank of the Pearl River, and connects Shenzhen, Zhongshan and Guangzhou.

"The Shenzhen-Zhongshan Channel connects Shenzhen and Zhongshan. It is the only direct channel connecting the two major economic circles of 'Shenzhen-Dongguan-Huizhou' and 'Zhuhai-Zhongshan-Jiangmen', and it is also a convenient transportation artery connecting eastern Guangdong to western Guangdong and even the southwest. Its operation has changed the accessible road from Zhongshan to Shenzhen from a ladder-shaped zigzag line to a straight line, and the travel time between the two places has been shortened from 2 hours to less than 30 minutes, greatly improving the efficiency of the flow of goods and personnel between Shenzhen and Zhongshan." Miao Zengqing, partner of EY Greater China Strategy and Transaction Consulting, said in an interview with a Securities Times reporter.

In addition, the Huangmaohai Bridge was successfully closed on June 19 this year, marking the completion of the Huangmaohai Cross-sea Channel connecting Jiangmen and Zhuhai in Guangdong Province, which will be completed and opened to traffic at the end of this year. It is reported that the Huangmaohai Channel will also connect to the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Western Coastal Expressway, formally forming a coastal economic artery in Guangdong Province, improving the life exchanges between residents in western Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta.

Lin Feiming, director of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Transportation, said that super projects such as the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link and the Huangmaohai Link are a vivid portrayal of Guangdong's efforts to accelerate the construction of a strong transportation country. Their completion and opening to traffic will completely change the overall road network pattern of the Pearl River Estuary and have important significance for the economic and social development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. "Through a series of cross-regional and cross-river and sea infrastructure construction, we have significantly improved the convenience and efficiency of transportation in the Greater Bay Area and promoted the deep integration of various cities." Lu Dan, partner of EY Greater China Strategy and Transaction Consulting, told the Securities Times reporter.

With the successive opening of the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Channel and the Huangmaohai Channel, they will form a group of cross-sea and cross-river channels in the Greater Bay Area together with the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, Nansha Bridge and Humen Bridge that have already been built and opened to traffic; with the continuous extension of intercity railways and the continuous expansion of low-altitude flight scenarios, the travel methods and experiences of residents in the Greater Bay Area will continue to be improved and optimized, jointly promoting the accelerated formation of the Greater Bay Area's "one-hour economic circle".